England head coach Eddie Jones has been backed by the Rugby Football Union despite an embarrassing Six Nations campaign this year, according to a report on The Telegraph.
England were favourites to lift the trophy for a historic third time in succession prior to the tournament and made a bright start until things spiralled out of control after being defeated by Scotland for the first time in ten years.
Jones’ men then went on to lose against France and Ireland to finish fifth in the tournament, handing Ireland the Grand Slam.
The England head coach has received heavy criticism from many people, with some calling for a new manager to replace him ahead of next year’s World Cup in Japan.
RFU chief executive Steve Brown met with Jones and his coaching staff to discuss what the future holds for England and ultimately came to the conclusion that he is still the right man to lead England.
Brown said:
Eddie and his coaches have my confidence. The results in the Six Nations were not what we wanted, not what we expected and there is no attempt by us to dress this up.
We wanted to do significantly better and we didn’t. We’re disappointed with the decline, no question about that. We will learn from this and make sure it doesn’t happen again. They’re looking for solutions to put us back to where we were before.
It’s worth reflecting that Eddie has an 86 per cent win record with England. You don’t become a bad coach or team overnight. But we have to learn and have to improve.
Jones was given a two-year contract extension by England in January with Brown keen to have him as the leader at the World Cup.
Jones has received a full backing from the board and must now regroup his players to prepare for the World Cup.
